By Max A. Cherney and Stephen Nellis
SAN JOSE (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence semiconductor powerhouse Nvidia kicks off its annual developer conference on Monday, with investors focused on new chip announcements from CEO Jensen Huang in an afternoon speech.
Nvidia’s new chip and software announcements at GTC 2024 will help determine whether Nvidia can maintain its lead as the dominant vendor of the tools needed to fuel last year’s artificial intelligence frenzy. Nvidia dominates the data center AI chip market, taking roughly 80% share last year.
Nvidia’s market share is expected to drop by several percentage points in 2024 as new products from rivals such as Intel and Advanced Micro Devices enter the market.
Huang is expected to announce the next generation of AI processors designed by the company. The upcoming B100 chip is expected to feature significant improvements over its predecessor, the H100.
Although Nvidia is widely regarded as a chip designer, the company has also built a significant battery of software products, and Huang is expected to unveil a number of new software-related products on Monday. Nvidia announced earlier this year that its software and services business had hit an annualized rate of $1 billion by the end of the company’s last fiscal year.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company is holding GTC in person this year for the first time since 2019. Approximately 16,000 people are expected to attend, roughly double the number of the last in-person event.
Huang’s keynote speech is scheduled to take place at a hockey arena in Silicon Valley at 1:00 pm (2000 GMT), the largest venue the company has secured for such an event.
(Reporting by Max A. Cherney and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Tom Hogue)